JOE Kinnear has confirmed that Argentinian Lucas Mareque is one of his top transfer targets for January.

The Newcastle manager has drawn up his January transfer targets and has made a new left-back a priority to provide competition for Jose Enrique.

John Arne Riise and Leighton Baines have already been linked with Newcastle but Kinnear has confirmed interest in Mareque.

He said: “Lucas Mareque is a player we are looking to bring in from Independiente in the January transfer window and we are trying to find out what that would entail,”

“He is 6ft 2ins and height is something we could do with in our back four.

“We have looked at the way our own Argentinians, Jonás Gutiérrez and Fabricio Coloccini have settled in and we have spoken to them about Mareque and they have given us glowing reports.”